Electronic devices in vehicles support correct driving among other things and also increase the safety of the driver, possible passengers and other road users. The current level of development focuses on supporting the driver even in cases in which the driver reacts only insufficiently or too late, or is in a state in which they are unable to react any more. Changes in the state of the driver can occur unforeseen and thus negatively influence their ability to drive or stop the vehicle correctly. If the driver has fallen asleep momentarily, for example, or has suffered a stroke, an accident is often unavoidable.
Various electronic devices, such as cameras, enable the detection of an impairment or abnormality in the state of the driver. Other electronic devices permit the vehicle to be stopped in this case. To stop a vehicle automatically, safety aspects must be taken into account, with reference to which the vehicle is to be stopped. It is important in this case not only to bring the vehicle reliably to a stop, however, but above all to stop it at a place at which it is located in the best possible safety. On the other hand, other road users should not be caused unnecessarily by a vehicle braking ahead of them or already stopped to brake themselves or to evade the vehicle.
A device is known from DE 11 2011 105 432 T5 which stops the vehicle automatically or maintains a stopping state in an emergency. A recognition process decides when the process of automatic stopping is necessary (e.g. if a negative change in the state of the driver occurs). The automatic stopping can also be requested by the driver. A safe place is then chosen for the automatic stopping of a vehicle. The safe place is an area in which the influence on the surroundings of deceleration and stopping of one's own vehicle is kept as small as possible. The place is chosen in such a way that one's own vehicle can be stopped without difficulty by an automatic slowing down and steering of the vehicle.